Lies Like Lions
by AliLamba
Summary: Jak Attack 2011: Jack and Kate like to sleep together. No...they really like to sleep together. An attempt at a crackish retcon that may or may not end silly and smutty. Such is life.
1. Chapter 1

**LIES LIKE LIONS  
><strong>**By:** AliLamba  
><strong>Rated: <strong>R  
><strong>Notes: <strong>The title is taken from a John Vanderlice lyric (I know I use him all the time, but seriously, he should be less poetic), though technically it's "_rise_ like lions / after a slumber" and I just remembered it wrong…but it unfortunately stuck. This story was actually conceived of while I couldn't fall asleep, though I was sharing the bed with the then-boyfriend/now-husband and everything, and all was nice. Anyway, TMI, sure, but…yes. So the insomnia bits are from my own miserable experience…though who's to say that translates. Anyway. This fic started with a real idea…and then just got silly. Like. Repeatedly.  
><strong>Summary<strong>: A response to that line Kate says about wanting to sleep in her own tent after…you know…that thing we don't talk about in "The Brig." Not crackfic, but…well…  
><strong>Dedicated to:<strong> Selina, because it was her birthday and I started this fic almost four of her birthdays ago :D

I took a shot at a retcon parody. Jack and Kate really like to sleep together. …No, they really like to sleep together.

* * *

><p><em>Day 4<em>

The world spun slowly, allowing for the great sweeps of migration across it—animals and people and ideas, moving and establishing life, inspiring great changes and creating, always creating in their infinite wisdom that which would make life worth the constant fluxes of living.

All this, Kate could appreciate…and yet she still couldn't sleep.

Suffering a small sigh, with the realization that she was putting effort into keeping her eyes _closed_, Kate rolled from her make-shift tarp-of-a-mattress and slipped out onto the beach.

It was another perfect night. The moon was round and full, with just stray wisps of clouds to mark its size. The ocean lolled against the sand, as if it too were tired, but just couldn't fight the impulse to move.

Kate wasn't sure what to do about her problem. She very much doubted that she could get anywhere near enough to the mysterious polar bear to milk it (did it even produce milk?) and she really didn't think that whatever "monster" was making those ominous synthetic noises from the jungle was in the practice of handing out warm cookies and lullabies. Kate could at least appreciate (with a wry smile) that her brain was tired enough to make these leaps, even if her body had yet to match the fatigue.

So, polar bears and monsters out of the question, Kate decided on the next best thing.

She went to see the doctor.

* * *

><p>Jack was dreaming. It was something about brunettes with sharp, notice-me eyes…and discipline…but other than that, his mind was too fogged to see. Most of his nights thus far on the Island (when he started thinking of it as a proper noun?) had gone something like this—the bare pretense of sleep, while half his mind stayed awake for sounds of danger.<p>

_Like a shark_, he noticed sardonically, the awake side of him wanting to laugh. But sleep is always in the practice of trying to seduce you, and it tugged at his consciousness, trying to tempt him into forgetting any sense of obligation.

There was a noise outside his tent.

Jack froze, every nerve ending in his body shocked into wakefulness. Very quickly, he took stock of everything that was in his make-shift hovel, trying to discern what could be best used as a weapon. _Water bottle_.

…_Water bottle?_

"_Jack?_"

It was Kate. That didn't mean he jumped any less anyway.

"Oh. Jack. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up…"

Kate had pushed aside the thin tarp sheet that made his door, and was already half-inside. She had paused when she noticed he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"No," he stopped her, his voice perhaps a little louder than he meant it. "No, it's fine, I uh, I wasn't really sleeping anyway."

He saw her bite her lip, but then step fully past his door. There was something of an awkward pause as she looked for somewhere to sit.

"Um…" She tried to smile.

"Oh, yeah, you can sit, uh…" Jack had to laugh at his own sudden grogginess, and he dragged a hand down his face to wake himself up further. "Sorry, you can sit down here." Jack sat up straight, reaching for his shirt, indicating Kate should take the lower half of his bed. Somehow she didn't manage to get there until the undershirt he had been wearing for the last 32 hours had made it over his head.

Jack wanted to say something, after they had descended into a quick and sudden silence. He tried to recall small talk, some sort of sense of propriety from the life he had known barely half a week ago. His mind refused to comply.

"So you can't sleep either, huh?"

Jack woke a little more when he heard her speak, but his mind was still slow to process her words.

"Like a shark," he mumbled, with a chaste grin into empty space, and Kate raised an eyebrow. Jack realized the words had left his mouth a moment too late, and struggled to try to explain. "Oh, you know, um. Half…half awake, half…asleep…"

Kate smiled, almost laughing. "Yeah, I get it."

The smile he managed to return was sort of self-effacing, in the way you smile when you're drunk and willing to accept a friend driving you home. He tried to get his doctor-side to kick in a little.

"So, uh, did you want to look through the rest of the medical supplies? Sleep problems are common enough, could've been someone who had something."

Kate bit her lip again, like she was still trying not to smile. "Sure."

Jack didn't question her response, but instead pulled the suitcase over to them, switching on the flashlight he had strung from the roof of the tent.

"You want to be looking for anything that ends in 'olones' or 'pams," he told her, "So…eszopiclone, zopiclone…or bromazepam, clorazepate, chlordiazepoxide, flurazepam, lorazepam…"

Kate held something to the light. "How about…diazepam?"

"Hey now." He slipped the yellow vial from her hands and twisted it open, "Kate, you just found us some Valium."

The grin she gave him was a little hard to read, but she held out her palm, and he tipped her a tiny white pill. "Wouldn't this be under the guise of substance abuse, doc?"

Jack had to smile wryly, chuckling a little to himself, "You know, I think there are extra-mediating forces at work here." Kate remembered the polar bears and monsters, and she had to laugh softly as well. "Have you ever taken this before?"

"I don't know," she answered truthfully, looking for a water bottle. "Why do you ask?"

Jack had already found his would-be weapon, and was screwing off the bottle cap automatically and handing it to her. "Oh," he shrugged, "some people are allergic. Mostly hives, and…closed…throat…" Jack stopped to blink, waking himself. "Sorry, uh, doctor mode." He looked at her, and tried to smile in a way that could be reassuring. "I think you'll be fine."

Kate didn't feel like being cautious, so she threw the pill in her mouth and swallowed it with a swig of water. "Aren't you going to take yours?" she asked, seeing him staring at his silently.

There was a small pause, where it looked like Jack was contemplating something, but he merely tried to smile again, shook his head, and then swallowed his own dry.

"To crash landings," he toasted on a sigh, reclining over the edge of his mattress of spare airplane blankets. There was another pause, as Kate looked around Jack's tent, waiting for something to happen to her. "Actually, you should probably stay somewhere I can see you tonight."

"What? Why?"

Jack sat back up, massaging his eyelids. "Well, I usually tell my patients to call 9-1-1 if they have problems, but somehow I don't think we could reach a phone in time."

Kate nodded, looking behind her at the tiny mattress. A grin threatened, and she tried her best to stifle the immature thoughts that had sprung in her mind. "I think you might have to take me to dinner first."

This made him sit up straighter, and then he too was eyeing the narrow strip of bedding, and then laughing. "Don't worry," he said, his voice rich with slumber and amusement, "I'll take the floo…uh, the uh…sand."

She protested, a little weakly, but Jack changed the subject, and then their conversation somehow matured. After a moment they were playing name games as to the other people on the Island, trying to match faces and occupations. It was funny after awhile.

"No, wait, I think Ethan lived with the gorillas. He's been a fruit-gathering _machine_."

Jack laughed, making Kate laugh, and she collapsed against him. And for some reason she didn't care to think about, she didn't move away. They both lapsed into silence…until the steady _ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump_ of their combined heartbeats were the only sounds echoing in their ears.

"Jack," Kate whispered, her voice a little coarse but somehow caressing. "I think I like Valium."

He smiled at that. "Yeah, but are you sleepy at all?"

Kate had to shake her head. "Well, no, but I certainly feel pretty good."

She could feel his chin move against the top of her head, as he turned to look down at her.

"Well, come on then."

Before she could contemplate what _that_ meant, Jack was tugging them both into a lying position, stretching their combined limbs to the end of the small make-shift mattress.

Kate's limbs were frozen. They were too close, close enough to feel each other's breathing, Kate tucked underneath Jack's chin with his arms wrapped around her torso. He adjusted a bit, making himself as comfortable as he could, but then it seemed like he could feel Kate's stiffness.

"Hey, just relax, okay? I'm not going to hurt you." When she didn't slacken any, but she didn't move away either, Jack chuckled. "Just think of it as a sleep lab. I'm trying to observe."

There was something in that—something maybe a bit funny about how he was _trying_ to make a joke in his doctor-way, that actually did calm Kate down a little. So maybe he wasn't someone she had known a lifetime, but there was something familiar about him, something almost soothing. She usually hated to be held. For barely a second, she thought of Tom.

And despite her best intentions, Kate slept like a baby that night. She didn't know why, refused to question it, but it came as something of a definite shock to feel sunlight bright against her eyelids, Jack's sharp jerk as he too seemed to awaken unexpectedly.

Through the walls of the tent, they could hear others rising, already stirring in the distance. Hurley was singing softly to himself, looking for something to eat, Charlie moaning at him to _please_ _shut up_. The hushed mutterings in Korean that could only be Jin and Sun passed their tent, but quickly.

All this, Kate heard, and she knew Jack heard, but neither of them moved. The effort of decisively _not_ moving heated her, to the point where she could feel the sweat form pockets against her skin. Should she say something first? Or just wait for him to leave? _Oh God_, she thought suddenly, _what a pathetic excuse for a one-night stand_.

Ethan's tap at the tent flap, then, the quiet "Doctor?", came as almost welcome.

Jack sucked in a deep breath, and carefully, slowly, he tried to inch his arm from beneath Kate's neck. The situation was now almost more than uncomfortable, and Kate still wasn't sure what to do. If she moved suddenly, it would mean an awkward "good morning, I slept like an infant while pressed against you all night" and if she tried to pretend she was still asleep, she ran the risk of more people seeing her leave Jack's tent later in the morning, and coming to their own conclusions.

She decided she would rather face the others.

"Jack, are you awa…?"

Ethan had decided to push the tent flap aside, but he lost his train of thought when he saw Jack and Kate staring back at him: round-eyed, limbs tangled and clothing askew. It might have looked clearly innocent (there was a distinctive red mark across Kate's cheek from where the tarp had imprinted its texture) but it was still…well…a development.

"Oh, hey…Ethan," Jack looked quickly down at Kate, and, seeing her awake, something in him seemed to settle. "Uh…can you give us a minute?" When he realized what that must sound like, Jack tried to flash a small smile at the other male. "Doctor-patient confidentiality, and all."

Ethan's surprised grin quirked a little, but with a last glance to Kate (who was biting her lower lip as if she was trying hard not to grin as well), Ethan slipped back out to the beach.

Silence settled quickly and painfully between them, as both tried to look anywhere else in the tent, letting out embarrassed chuckles when they made eye contact.

"Well, uh…" Jack broke the cycle. "Good morning."

Kate really did almost giggle at this, so inclined she was to be amused. "I'll get my things."

Not in any position to protest, Jack rolled away, swinging his legs half onto the sand. He watched a little while Kate picked herself up and readjusted her tank top, pulling it down from where it had ridden up the night before. "Uh," Jack started, and then had to clear his throat, "Did you, uh…did you sleep well?"

Kate paused while slipping on her shoes, using a free hand to push back some stray curls and exposing her grin. "Yeah, I actually slept pretty well." For some reason, this made Jack pleased. "You?"

Jack rubbed a hand over his scalp, shifting the short strands to wake himself up more. If he was honest…_well_… A grin forced itself across his face, as he stared into empty space.

"Any less shark-like?"

Jack laughed. "Yes. Definitely less shark-like."

Kate was now ready, but she paused after standing, bent at an odd angle so as not to up-end the tarp ceiling.

"Well…"

Jack smiled obligingly. "I'll see you around the beach, Kate."

* * *

><p><em>Days 6-7<em>

It should have stopped there, but for some reason…it didn't.

Kate spent the next night tossing in her own tent, adamant that she wouldn't trespass on Jack's personal space again. The delicate experience had charged their every-day interactions, to the extent that him offering Rose a mango led Kate to remember the feel of his thick, muscled arms around her midriff. A stretch, to be sure, but Kate wasn't sleeping very well, and logical thought was an unhappy casualty.

And then Jack found the caves.

She almost called out to him once: 'But how are we supposed to _sleep!_' but the very thought sounded ridiculous. Kate was determined to kick the habit, to calm all thoughts of waking up warm and covered in sunshine from her mind, and get a decent six to eight hours of honest _slumber_.

It was with a certain level of impatience with her own traitorous body, that Kate slipped from her own tent and snuck across the beach the very next night, while the moon hung high in the sky.

She stood outside his tent, biting her lower lip, casting quick, cautious glances to either side. She was being silly, yes, but Jack was planning on starting the move at daybreak, and Kate…well, she had to know.

"Kate," the heavily amused, whispered tone drifted to Kate's ears. "I know you're out there."

She had to bite back the bemused smile that threatened. With a glance to the sky (assuming that someone up there had given her up), Kate pulled aside the tarp-flap door and stepped inside.

"Hey," she teased, "If I had been a polar bear, you'd be feeling pretty stupid right now."

Jack laughed. He was sitting up on his mattress, one hand clutching the wrist of his other loosely over his knees. When their eyes touched, and his laughter abated into a warm smile, he reached out a hand. "Come on then, polar bear."

She didn't question the fact that he knew she wasn't there for the Valium. Maybe there wasn't any left. Regardless, for the second time on the Island, Kate allowed herself to be wrapped up in Jack's warm, solid hold, and she drifted off into a dreamless, un-puncture-able sleep.

Jack roused her the next morning with a conservative nudge at her shoulder.

"You know, Kate…" he whispered, "If you came to the caves, I could monitor you from there…"

Kate had to laugh at his persistence, but she merely shook her head, rolling away a little dizzily. "Don't wait up," she joked, as she located her shoes and grabbed them. Jack laughed, and the effect was disarming…so disarming, that it took Kate a moment to remember to breathe. But panic suddenly shot up her nerve endings, as she realized how precarious this sort of situation was. It was enough to motivate her quickly out of the tent after a small, dismissive smile in Jack's direction.

Thus far, it had all been playful—instigated by Valium, which made them both feel so good—and prolonged by the false attribution of innocence. So long as neither made any moves, using each other like this…well…it could work. But the fact of the matter was that she didn't trust _any_ male and female in their situation to keep it as such, nevermind whatever complicated dynamic that existed between them already.

* * *

><p>As was expected, Jack moved everyone who was willing to the caves later that day.<p>

Though neither of them knew it, they stayed up later than anyone else that night, sitting by the fire as sleep eluded them. Randomly, the same song came into their head…

_Just look around now. Take a good look. Just between you and me…Are you sure this is where you want to be?_

_No_. Jack and Kate thought together, and Kate jabbed a stick angrily into the fire. _I would prefer to be sleeping_.

Though they continued to see each other during daylight hours, their nights were spent in a slow sort of torture, to the extent that Kate was usually surprised to find herself waking up from anything.

Jack, it turned out, was taking it harder than she was…

"_Jack, when was the last time you slept?_" she'd asked. "_H-…have you been sleeping? …without…me?_" was what followed in her head.

The cave-in _infuriated_ her, and all she could think of when she pried rock after another away from where he and Charlie were, was a furious tirade: _Jack, you _better_ not be _dead_. I _will_ sleep again, damnit! _When he came out, when he and Charlie so triumphantly returned…she saw peace.

_This is what happens in your stupid, stupid caves, _Jack. _You take a nap without me, and rocks fall on you._

Afterwards, when she had given him his sling and they descended into silence, watching the fire together…Kate felt the question on the tip of her tongue. _How've you been sleeping __without me__?_ she wanted to ask. Wanted to suggest that…maybe…they try to spend another night together…sometime…? But Kate couldn't get her mouth to work, and awkwardly, as the fire started to crush into embers, Kate left to go back to the beach.

When they were playing golf a few days later, he couldn't help but rub it in. "_I almost didn't recognize you. You're smiling,_" she'd said. "_I've been going crazy trying to make everyone feel safe. I haven't been sleeping because I want everyone to feel safe,_" he'd responded, casually not looking at her.

A month passed. They both tried to forget. But still, it didn't work.

"_I crushed up some sleeping pills and put 'em in your juice, Jack_." She didn't have to say that it was the only alternative, amongst a beach full of people in broad daylight. As he drifted off, she watched his face… _So I guess, this means…you're not sleeping either._

A week passed, maybe more, and Kate devolved into the practice of sitting by the fire at night, always being the last to retire and the first to rise. And as much as she didn't want to admit it…the lack of sleep was getting to her. Whether it was a snap at Sawyer, or a longing look at Jack's big muscled arms and chest, Kate Needed. To. Sleep.

This frustration inevitably came to a head.

* * *

><p><strong><em>TBC...<em>**


	2. Chapter 2

**LIES LIKE LIONS  
>part two <strong>

**By:** AliLamba  
><strong>Rated: <strong>R  
><strong>Notes: <strong>Have I ever published anything so fast? Don't think so. Go find the yahoo group JAK ATTACK! I want to start an annual Lost Fan Fest thing, but so far there are only like three interested parties. Which makes me sad. Well, I can do a Jate Fest all by myself! :( No I can't. I wish all the writers on FFnet who are better than me would start writing Jate again. Or really just...Lost, related smut. Er.  
><strong><br>**

* * *

><p><em>Day 42-ish (best not to think too hard)<em>

It was raining—thick, murderous pelts of water slamming against the roof of her tent, and rather than being lulled by the pattern of droplets, Kate was glaring at the blue tarp as if she wished it would implode. For the last hour, there had been an insistent tick at her temple, as if even her body needed to release. She tried closing her eyes, counted hundreds of sheep, and still, every time she got herself comfortable, she realized that something was missing. Some sort of warm, secure presence…an arm that should be _there_, a chest's heavy rhythm that should be _here_…and despite the rain, despite the mile-long walk in the _dark_ where there were _monsters_ and "_others_" and _polar bears_ and _wild boars_, Kate started to pack.

She didn't have a flashlight, but Kate didn't care. The moon was full again anyway, and its light was eking through the clouds enough to see. Kate tripped more than once over roots, and slipped over more than one rain-slicked rock, but she kept moving, kept up her furious pace towards the caves, towards Jack, and towards the mind-numbing _nothingness_ that awaited an unconscious night of sleep.

It suddenly stopped raining, and Kate leaned against a tree as much to regain her breath as to adjust to the sudden shock of reality.

Until something ran into her side.

Kate screamed in surprise as she started to flail, but her shoes slipped on a thick patch of mud, and she pitched forward—

But it was Jack.

Just as surprised, his arms flung around her, slamming her to his chest before she could fall on her ass.

The moment their torsos connected, Kate went rigid.

"J_-Jack?_"

"Yeah," he was breathless, almost laughing. "Yeah, it's me, Kate."

And suddenly, Kate was grinning, and then laughing to the point of exhausted tears. "Oh my God, Jack," she cried, "Oh God, I'm so tired."

Jack was laughing sporadically, punctuating himself with warm, mirthful smiles and short heaves of breath. "Yeah, me too, Kate."

Reality stepped in slowly, and with a few more improvised and surprised chuckles, they separated.

"So, uh…" Jack started, bringing his hand to rub the back of his neck as he grinned awkwardly.

Kate laughed again, breathless. "Your place or mine?"

He seemed pleased—almost too pleased—but with a final, winning smile, he nodded his head back towards the caves, and they set off, slipping unnoticed into Jack's private den towards the entrance to the enclave. Backpacks were shed with relieved sighs, and though they should have, they didn't bother to change into dry clothes before dropping together onto the tarp and flotation-device bedding. Like she had dreamed about (or would have, had she slept enough), Jacks arms slid around her, found the crooks of her body where they fell naturally and comfortably.

It was a beautiful, beautiful night.

Thankfully, as a result of the incident with Claire and Charlie and Ethan, Dr. Jack Shephard was mostly left alone mornings, allowed to rest unless there was some bone-shattering emergency (figuratively speaking or not).

So it was a gloriously languid process then, to warm into wakefulness, stretching indulgently until every muscle was prepared to meet the day. In a drowsed, satisfied state, their movements glanced off each other, as they shared smiles of implied 'oh, I slept marvelously.'

Jack's "good morning" and amended "good afternoon" were a bit awkward, but Kate couldn't have cared, so pleased was she to have had a decent eight hours of restfulness. Her smile expressed as much in saying "good bye."

This became a celebrated pattern for nearly a week. Most nights, it was Kate who would slip into Jack's cave ("I'm not moving here," she warned often, though Jack didn't press her) but the nights she was feeling obstinate, was questioning the secrecy of it all, Jack would make the walk to her tent on the beach, laying down behind her without being asked. Sometimes they didn't make it at all, and those happened to be the worst—when they both laid awake asking questions.

It was innocent, just sleeping together, but still decidedly not.

This was acknowledged, not out loud, but with their practice of starting to wake early enough not to be seen coming and going from each other's tents, instead emerging from their own private quarters at a decent hour, maybe with an exaggerated yawn or stretch to act as if they had just woken up.

Everything was fine, wonderful even, until their comfort level…well…

Kate was dreaming. In her minds eye, a certain spinal surgeon was grinning wickedly at her. They were both naked, she noticed with a thrill of excitement, but she didn't have time to question it. Jack's head dipped to touch his lips to the hollow of her throat, and then…he was kissing his way down the middle of her chest…hot, sweaty kisses leaving circles of wet breath between her breasts, down her stomach, over her belly button, until with a final, shuddering sigh, his mouth…_oh_, his mouth…

Kate's eyelids snapped open. Her breath was coming short, her pulse racing with warm blood, though consciousness was now raining down like acid. She couldn't find words, to put a phrase on the—the _absurdity_ of everything, to organize her mind back into the carefully constructed grid that blocked any sense of reality from the intimacy she was sharing with…_with Jack_…

_Mmm…_her eyes fluttered closed, as her mind gave in to a mental moan and a repeat performance._ Jack_…

And then she recognized it—what had triggered her mind into trespassing on such dangerous territory. Jack was asleep, yes, the moonlight still filtering in through the gaps in the trees overhead, but against her upper thigh, nestled right below the curve of her ass…was the distinct impression of Jack's arousal.

Kate gasped. It wasn't a new sensation, of course, as she had certainly shared a bed with a man before, but it coming like this, at a time like this, in a, in a _place_ like this… A warmth flooded her veins, and Kate bit her lip hard to suppress the images that were trying to persist into continuance.

Not waiting to see what his reaction would be, Kate knew she couldn't stay there another minute. She tumbled quickly from the bed, grabbed her shoes and backpack from their place beside the cave's entrance, and slipped into the night without looking back.

Her pulse refused to slow down, so she ran, barely pausing to put her sneakers on. If she chose to dwell on it (which she didn't), she would have recognized the surprised start as Jack adjusted to the vacuum of cold air, his bleary-eyed and whispered "_Kate?_"

But she just ran. Past the beach, as far as she could, until she could see the red rim on the horizon—until she knew she wouldn't have to face Jack again.

It was the morning of the day that Jack was introduced to the Hatch.

* * *

><p>It was just over a week later, and Jack was standing outside her tent, unsure of what to do. Their last night together…well, it wasn't how he wanted to leave their practice, and the weight of it was starting to affect everything he did. If he was surprised to see her leave that night, his surprise to find the state of himself revoked it. At first he was embarrassed, almost ashamed, and then…well, hell, could she really be so virginal? Something told him, distinctly, that she wasn't, though he preferred not to dwell on exactly how <em>not<em> virginal she was. His nights had been hard enough without the added bonus of trying to control his inappropriate hormones.

Which is why he was there, outside her tent, hands alternatively dropping to his sides or anchoring on either side of his waist. He wanted to knock, but couldn't think of anything to say, which wasn't like them, or whatever it was they had established in pattern. The guideline told him that he should just barge in, just take for granted that she couldn't sleep and wanted (needed?) him there, to the same extent that he wanted, and maybe needed her. A weird judgment to make, when infused with years and almost decades of medicinal knowledge.

With a labored sigh, Jack turned, and stalked stiffly back the hatch.

* * *

><p>Then Kate kissed him. She hadn't slept in at least 24 hours, Jack knew, but through her sobbing…<p>

"_Jack, it's drivin' me crazy_," she had said, and he knew. _I can't sleep either,_ he wanted to say, wanted to just drag them both to the ground and try to find some peace. _We can go back to how it was before, I promise, I promise not to hurt you_.

But instead, he only said…

"_I know_."

* * *

><p>Kate didn't go back to him that night, couldn't have, she was so embarrassed. The line had been crossed, that much was certain, and any hope that she could somehow revisit those glorious nights of slumber was now obliterated.<p>

Jack, alternately, was just pissed. So the line had been crossed—fine. Fine! He wasn't getting any sleep anyway, might as well push the damn button. There was no way, after that kiss, that…that kiss which was keeping him up anyway, that Kate would ever come back. And now he didn't know how to fix that. So yes, maybe he was a little snappy with her when it came time to follow after Michael. It was _her_ fault he was so tired and grouchy to begin with. And yes, why the hell not start an army? One less distraction. One more thing to drive those damn curves from his mind. All that softness…

Was she spending her nights now with Sawyer? Was he helping her sleep? She certainly didn't look too groggy…

He refused to ask. But beating Sawyer in poker felt that much nicer.

* * *

><p>Reluctantly, he picked her for the trek into the woods for the line. Around that point, he was starting to get certain that something was happening between Kate and Sawyer (they both looked so damn rested and he hated them), but there hadn't been anyone else to ask.<p>

And when they got caught in that net, all their curves slid together, and for Kate at least…she suddenly remembered what it was like. And almost instantly, she passed out.

"_Kate…Kate…_Kate."

She started, would've jumped farther if it weren't for their still being in a damn net.

"Yeah," she managed, swallowing hard, blinking to wake herself up.

"Oh, so you _can_ hear me."

* * *

><p>She thought he wouldn't have remembered all those nights together, but he did. And as they went trekking through the jungle, Jack felt himself getting angrier and angrier that he was perceiving that she was the one not remembering. So when it came to yell for the Others, he didn't hold back.<p>

Sitting at the fireside, Kate was staring into the embers…and suddenly, it felt familiar. All the nights she'd been forced to sit there like this, not sleeping, and then there they were—the solution to her problem mere inches away, and they were stuck in this horrible rut of awkwardness. So:

"I'm sorry I kissed you."

Jack felt his muscles clench, and for awhile he didn't look at her. It was what he'd wanted to hear for so long…for a moment he couldn't help but relish in that. But the moment was instantaneous, followed immediately by cool relief. And then fear. Could they really go back to the way it was? He felt his mind running at full speed standing still. She was leaving room for him to also apologize, to move forward and come to a place of understanding on progress. He needed to assuage her fears, that much was certain…so he chanced a glance in her direction.

"I'm not."

And while they stared at each other in that moment, their thoughts were the same. _What? Does this mean…we can sleep together again?_ They unconsciously drifted closer, until they could _feel_ the snuggles at hand.

And then Michael just _had_ to stumble out of the jungle.

* * *

><p>Again time passed. It always seems to, and when events on the Island took leaps and bounds to become weirder and weirder…the fact that you're not sleeping doesn't seem to matter anymore. Eventually you find yourself falling asleep sitting up, or dozing in the middle of a conversation you don't remember starting. Eventually you stop noticing.<p>

The cages were pretty awful.

"_Jack! Jack! Jack, Jack, Jack Jack Jack!_" she kept yelling, _knowing_ it was him as he was led past her in that black hood. It was him. She knew those arms. "I HAVEN'T SLEPT IN FOUR DAYS" she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs.

Was that what made her do it? Sawyer was going to die, sure, but she also wasn't sleeping. Her arms would get so cold at night, and then she'd remember warmth… A warmth she couldn't really place. It frustrated her beyond measure to realize she was practically pining for Jack's torso, especially when he'd so brutally screamed at her through the glass, when she was so inexplicably overwhelmed to see him…

Sawyer's arms…a few hours later…a few horrible, awful hours later… Oh gosh. When she closed her eyes, they were almost the same. She could convince her mind they were, allowing fantasy to take over completely as in her mind she saw his tattoos…felt that soft silly hair covering his chest. Her subconscious was a traitor though, and every half hour she'd get a stab of…

_No._

Things went so quickly from bad to worse. They escaped. They were free. But paddling back in that raft with Sawyer she could see her reflection. And her stern reflection felt painful. Why was she lying to herself? Sawyer's baby-smooth chest would never be Jack's, and his arms would never be thick and muscled just below the surface, making her wonder _when he had time to work out on an island_. _Was he born with those muscles, and he just didn't have to work at it?_ It was too easy to make herself sigh.

"We have to go back."

* * *

><p>She was trying to make this work. Jack was back and was barely talking to her. She fell asleep while cutting a mango. Just – chin dropped, mouth opened and drool collected in her lower lip. Awesome.<p>

And now Juliet was probably getting her sweet relief in Jack's tent, so she couldn't even go over there! Agh. Sawyer she could try. No, she couldn't.

"I just have a hard time, sleeping outside my own tent."

"Fine, then. We'll go to your tent—"

"No! …No," she tempered, a little panicked, the word vomit of explanation on the tip of her tongue. She covered her lie so easily with more of the same.

* * *

><p>Things moved so quickly after that. When it wasn't the Others, it was people on a freighter, and then it was all about running through the jungle and blowing things up until…they were off. They were off the Island. They were on a helicopter then a raft and then a boat. A real rescue boat.<p>

And Aaron was keeping her up at night. Freaking babies.

Babies aren't Jack. Babies are the opposite of Jack. You can't put a tiny baby arm around your midriff! Not that Kate tried. She was having a hard enough time sleeping on a _bed_. In a real _room_. One not on the Island.

Jack suggested they lie. It was such a relief just being near him again (her eyelids were droopy just at the closeness of his voice), she tried to drop a hint that he could (you know, if he wanted) visit her…in bed.

"_I have _always _been with you._"

Walking back towards her cabin, Kate realized she hadn't actually used the _bed_ yet. She'd spent the…the three days? On this boat? Wandering the decks with Aaron, eating, or sitting in the chair next one of the twin beds in her room, slowly rubbing his back in slow circles so he slept peacefully. Sure she'd slept. Well. She must have slept. Because people do that. Sometimes.

Aaron went down easily that night, and after he was lightly snoozing, Kate managed to drag her attention away. She glared at the other bed in the cabin, contemplating its purpose. Those things were supposed to be comfortable.

Awkwardly, unsure whether the bed was going to crumple under her weight or absorb her into its Freddy Krueger lair, Kate rested her palms on the mattress, and then hopped so that her ass was hovering a few inches off of it. Supported by the Island strength of her arms, she lowered herself slowly onto the bedding.

"_Ahh! Ow ow ow ow ow!_" she yelled, in agony, the crushing softness contrasting the tensness in every fiber of her body. It felt like lying on shards of glass. The way she tumbled off the bed was not at all ladylike.

The door to her cabin flew open.

Jack was breathless in the door.

* * *

><p><strong><em>TBC... (smut next time. I promise.)<em>**


	3. Chapter 3

**LIES LIKE LIONS  
>(part three)<br>****By:** AliLamba  
><strong>Rated: <strong>M/R  
><strong>Notes: <strong>Look at this! A finished fic, how about that! Now I'm just going to go...finish the others. Like I promised. At least I have time! This Jate Fest in my head is actually working!**  
><strong>**Dedicated to:** Marie, who _just knew_ it would be on that boat. And Jess, because those two read this first and we will always be tied to that Lost finale. Lol I need to watch that video again. Promise me that we still have it, ladies. PROMISE ME WE'LL HAVE IT FOREVER. Oh Gary.

* * *

><p>Kate looked at him. Then she looked at Aaron. Aaron sighed softly and his forehead smoothed. Kate released the air from her throat in a tumble.<p>

"Jack, what're you doing here?" she whispered across the room.

"You—you screamed," he offered, in the lame explanation of one who realized there was nothing to be worried about.

Kate sighed again and sat up, leaning her back against the side of the bed. She massaged her temple and the corner of her eye with one hand, suddenly feeling completely drained. "I'm fine, Jack. I'm just not used to real mattresses."

It took Jack a moment to catch his breath, but the topic of conversation didn't seem to leave the air between them. Kate didn't have much to say anymore, she realized. She was tired. Too tired.

"Yeah, me too," he finally admitted. His breathing had calmed, and he was looking right at her.

Kate tried to hold his gaze, but her eyelids were heavy.

With a small glance to the boat deck, Jack shut the door behind him and stepped fully into the room.

"Kate, do you remember…when we first met?"

"What, the sewing? Sure I remember—"

"No, no, the other time. The time you couldn't sleep. Do you remember what I said to you?"

Kate swallowed an emotional lump in her throat. He was bringing that up _now?_

"You said…you said: like a shark."

Jack nodded slowly. Then he almost laughed. "Kate I'm turning into a hammerhead," he said, his voice almost a whine.

"But—" Kate started, and her mind was racing too fast for her to catch up. "But—we kissed! Jack, I kissed you, and I felt you, and everything's wrong."

"Yeah Kate. Everything's wrong."

They stared at each other for what felt like hours and days and months and years. Kate succumbed.

"What the hell?"

She sunk onto her side, swung her legs into a lying position and closed her tired eyes. Then she waited. For too long she waited.

"Jack, I'm not counting to five," she warned. Somewhere close to the door she heard a deep, warm chuckle, with that nervous lightness that nervous chuckles have. Jack tried to use the momentum of the laugh to move himself forward. It was awkward as hell, but he squeezed himself between Kate and the bed, using muscles he hadn't tried in awhile to lower himself slowly so as not to crush her or wake the sleeping baby. There were limbs it seemed in every which direction, and it was a gift that he only pulled her hair once and she only elbowed him twice.

They both let out a sigh when it seemed like things were right.

And then they passed out completely.

* * *

><p>Kate felt like she woke up on a bed full of marshmallows. A smile couldn't hide her teeth as she stretched slowly within Jack's arms, her curves cushioned by his biceps and forearms and warm torso. She chanced a glance back at his face and saw him still asleep, and it made her smile all over again.<p>

_Epic win, Kate_.

She half leaned out of her lying position to check the next bed, but Aaron wasn't there. Before she had a chance to panic, she noticed a note scrawled in his place.

Figuring that kidnapping pirates weren't in the habit of leaving notes with such clean handwriting, Kate carefully slipped out of Jack's wonderful embrace, and padded across the carpet on the balls of her feet.

_Mornin sunshine—_

_You were both sleeping so well I couldn't wake you, but Aaron was crying his bloody head off so I thought I'd give you both a much-deserved break and take him until you're up and about._

_Love,  
><em>_Penny_

_p.s. don't worry, your secret's safe with me!_

Kate bit her lip against the sudden pang of guilt. She hadn't meant to be such an awful parent already. And then she blushed. Re-reading the post script, Kate found herself floundering as to how to feel about the possibility that someone thought she and Jack were a couple. Before she'd been able to think about it much, there was something like a half-whimper, half-groan from the ground on the other side of the bed.

Jack was awake. Kate's grin was pinned by the teeth holding her lower lip, and she debated initiating a game of hide and seek to abuse him. Realizing she wasn't 12-years-old, she made quick work of the return journey to Jack's side and sat down in front of him.

She really liked the way he woke up like he was lost at sea. Made her feel important.

"Morning Jack."

Jack was still blinking against the available light in the room. He jerked his head toward the sound of her voice, and then rubbed his eyelids with the thumb and forefinger of his free hand. When he realized she was sitting up, and that her eyes were laughing at him, he forced himself into a mirrored sitting position.

"Didn't you sleep?" he wanted to know, and there was a vulnerability to his voice.

Again, Kate was tempted to toy with him. But she merely nodded her head quickly, and continued to grin.

Jack's nervousness quickly turned to optimism. A relieved smile stretched his lips, before a thought caught up with him. "A—are you hungry? Do you want breakfast?"

Kate had to think about it. "No, not right now. But Jack…we gotta talk about this."

Jack's expression turned suddenly serious. "Okay…"

"I mean, where is this going? How are we going to keep this up? I can't sleep without you, but…y'know…it gets…complicated," she finished lamely. This was more difficult than she thought, and she was suddenly regretting not letting herself have this conversation in the heat of a more troubling moment. Real doubts and insecurities were always easier to voice when emotion took control.

"Right," Jack agreed. "Complicated."

Kate nodded until Jack joined in.

"Wait, what do you mean, complicated?" Jack's eyebrows twisted and showed the wrinkles in his forehead.

Kate felt an uncomfortable jolt of electricity squirming through her chest. Her stomach started to squirm. Her face felt hot as she searched for the right words to explain. "Well, um, y'know, there was…the kiss," she searched his gaze for recognition, which she found. "And that was no good. But then there was…well…you know."

He must have been playing dumb. He must have majored in 'how to look like an idiot without really trying.' Kate sighed. He was really going to make her come out and say it.

"Y'know. You're…" She couldn't. She just couldn't. So she gestured vaguely around his nether regions and felt her cheeks on fire.

"Oh." Jack said, and he suddenly shifted his stance an inch, unconsciously opening himself up to her intimating his junk. He looked down, as if his crotch held sudden answers, and then back up at Kate. "Oh."

It was obvious to both that Kate could say no more. There was a thoughtful pause as Jack rubbed the web of his thumb against his forehead.

It's true, his brain had immediately supplied him with a thought. But it was a doozy.

"Well…" Might as well try. Might as well face the rejection and figure out a way to live the rest of your life without sleeping ever again. "There is…something…we could try."

Kate's head jerked around immediately. While her cheeks were still ablaze, her expression was earnest.

"We could just…go…all…the way."

Jack felt like a 16-year-old kid who'd just touched his first booby. What was this, prom? Were they under the bleachers at the homecoming game? No. He was a grown adult, with a few – only a few – gray hairs to prove it. He was a doctor, damn it! Medical doctor! A real one! And he had just referred to the act of heterosexual, consensual, adult copulation as "_all the way_"? What was wrong with him!

"Jack—" she couldn't finish her thought. Her mouth was opening and closing, her lips looking like a trout trying to swallow water from air.

"I mean—" why was he still trying to defend this awful suggestion? "Then we could keep sleeping together. Because we'd sort of take down all the walls, and if there was ever a—" he gestured vaguely to his nether regions, "—or a-" he gestured vaguely to her upper regions, "situation, we'd already be fully aware and, and," his brain was screaming at him to _abandon ship_ but he couldn't, "we'd both be…okay, with…it."

This was a low point of Jack's existence.

As his brain finally convinced him he could fulfill his Hippocratic oath better with his mouth closed, the pair descended into quick, awful silence. They didn't dare move because obviously if they did everything would be over (as if it wasn't already) and then that would just be it for the rest of their lives.

Jack's mind couldn't come up with enough inventive methods of torture for him to put himself through later. For some reason sharks were almost always involved.

"Okay."

_Yeah,_ Jack griped at his brain. _Thanks for playing, I'll just go now_.

Suddenly Kate was a whole lot closer. When Jack blinked, her eyes were barely ten inches away.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I said okay."

That didn't compute. His brain gave him a message: _system overload. Abort mission. Abort. System crash. Nevermind._

"But it was such a stoo—"

_-pid idea._

Kate's lips were touching his, and with his eyes open to every detail he saw her head tilted against his and her eyes closed. Her curly brown hair was tickling his arm. It was too much to be surprised. His heart was thumping madly against his chest, his nether regions were acting up, but his brain had a back-up plan, as he'd been here before. This he could almost do on autopilot it was so natural an action.

Jack's limp hand threaded through her hair and cupped the back of her head, his eyes closing as he gave in to the sweetness of her lips. They opened on an unfortunate blend of morning breathes, and after a quick nose wrinkle, a shared glance, and a shared chuckle, they resumed their kiss. The bad breath could go to the back of their mind, as the feeling of their tongues took over, sliding against each other, this delicious scooping motion somehow bringing their mouths closer together.

Kate arched into his embrace, her shoulders tilting to find room in his crouched position. With her breasts against his chest Jack opened himself to her, cradling her lithe body within his arms. There was a spot right below his arcuate line that was a little ball of lust, and with each new sensation and inhalation of the smell of her hair he was losing a battle to be smart about all this.

He rubbed her back, up and down her spine, before he found the courage to lift her shirt. While at first he tried to be slow, giving her the option of changing her mind, after making it half-way up her torso he instead ripped the garment off in one more tug. With their kiss broken, he allowed himself to look at her.

_Is this real life?_

He saw something he'd only seen a few times in reality, but many more in his sleepless mind: Kate in a bra. What he hadn't been creative enough to fantasize was the way she looked without it, and he was so thankful that she took care of that for him, because he was too overwhelmed to manage the job himself. Her breasts were just…perfect. There was no other way to describe them. After a questioning glance to her eyes that she didn't respond to, Jack reached up and touched them. He was quickly immersed in them, and when he bent his head to kiss her nipples Kate let her head fall back to accept him. She wrapped her legs around his torso so that her crotch was against his, and his erection grew again to rub against her through their clothes.

She let out a sound he thought he'd heard once before, a moan, as she rubbed herself against him, and Jack continued to massage and kiss her breasts. He felt that ball of lust start to bleed into the balls below his penis, and Jack disengaged with a surprisingly guttural sound.

"Oh Kate," he couldn't help saying, particularly when she didn't stop twisting her pelvis against him. It was with a huge amount of effort that he found the strength to work through his instinct for release, and thus motivated he unceremoniously stuck his hand inside her pants. With his free fingers he worked open the button and the fly of her jeans, but their position didn't facilitate the removal of any more clothing. Probably a little too roughly he rubbed her through the crotch of her underwear, and then likely too quickly he was pulling aside the undergarment with the dexterity of a surgeon and using his forefinger to find her clit.

He'd barely touched it when Kate cried out and shuddered within his arms.

It took him a moment to realize she'd just orgasmed, so surprised as he was at his apparent skill.

It took him less than another moment to realize unspoken rules allowed him to speed his own process along.

Disentangling his hand from her pants, Jack lifted them both from his sitting position and stretched them along the floor, tugging her pants over her hips and down her legs before floundering with his own clothes. Making sure he wasn't a complete idiot, he again touched his fingers to her clit, then tried her opening. They were both dripping wet, which had the dual effect of making him feel like a _huge_ man and also stimulating him beyond what was presently appropriate. Jack used his own saliva to wet his painfully stiff cock, and entered her.

Yes, he should've lasted longer. It was something of a miracle that he made it past her second orgasm, but his own wasn't far behind. For their first time having sex, for his first time in…too long and her first time in…he'd rather not think about it…well, he'd wished it had gone better.

Not that Kate complained. The happy smile on her face as they snuggled together in bed made all the sleepless nights worth it. He kissed her lips again and again, buried his nose in her hair and grinned like a happy man.

Kate's sleepy movements stilled suddenly, and it drew his attention.

"Kate?"

Her head was lifted, and looking back and forth across their entwined and naked bodies. He was starting to get self-conscious.

"Kate, what is it."

"We're in a bed!"

Jack's head jerked in surprise of its own accord. He squinted at the mattress by twisting his neck awkwardly, and then leaned enough so that he could look at her.

"Well, yeah…" he started. "You don't…remember? We started on the floor," he looked at the spot on the ground just beside them, "but then, you know, it got…uncomfortable." Jack could feel his cheeks warm. What was with this teenage attitude of his? He shook his head to clear the embarrassment, and searched her eyes again for recognition. "Remember? You were going '_oo, Jack, oo right there_' and then you realized you were getting rug burn."

Kate bit her lip and then squished a hand behind her back, an awkward feat when trying to manage two grown bodies on a twin-size bed. After a moment of pensive exploration, her expression smoothed. "_Oooh yeah…_" she sighed, and then looked him straight in the eye. A coy smile bloomed across her lips. "I remember now."

There was a shared moment of possibility. The air was electric with excitement of _one right move_… Jack felt himself rising to the temptation, and in half a second they were both gone again.

"I'm just saying it's strange to be in a bed."

This time they managed to tangle themselves in the sheets, the duvet mostly on the ground and pillows mostly in places they shouldn't. Their bodies had become a bit stickier, but as they fit into an allowable position for conversation, it didn't seem to bother either of them.

Jack considered what she'd said. "I suppose," he agreed, fascinated with her navel. His greedy hands weren't ready to stop exploring her skin, and they slipped in and out of the bed linens to cover greater expanses of calves and hip.

"Last night I screamed because they were so uncomfortable, but now…" Kate released a languid sigh in a fuller explanation of her feelings. "You do realize that this is 'from now on', right?"

"Hmm?" Jack had found a particularly appealing curve along the inside of her knee, and his thoughts were scattered.

"We're going to be in a bed, Jack…for the rest of our lives." The seriousness of her tone drew Jack's gaze, and the expression he found was amazed by the fantasy of normal life.

"Yeah we are, Kate." Jack smiled in return. "What are we going to do about that?"

Kate's reactive gaze was quizzical, and so Jack explained: "I mean, that's a lot of nights, and a lot of potential sleep. I think we've more or less proved the only antidote to insomnia is, at least for me, well…" Jack really didn't need to explain.

For the first time in awhile Kate thought about Aaron. They could start a strange little family together, she supposed, if it was true that Jack was really up for it. It was asking a lot though, taking care of a baby. And Jack would probably go back to work, and oh—there was that jail thing—but…well… One taunted memory of blissfully relaxed slumber sealed the deal. She would never manage these modern mattress contraptions without him, anyway. She was sure of that.

"Oh, Jack," Kate sighed, sinking deeper into Jack's embrace. "What will people say."

* * *

><p>"<em>Jack's running late,<em>" she said. _He's sleeping in._

* * *

><p>Jail was awful.<p>

Despite the fact that Jack had been holding out on her in the lead-up to the trial (took her ages to figure that one out), she consistently found herself falling into that half-slumber on the cot, then half-waking up in a fetal position on the floor. She should have expected Jack to do everything he could to bail her out, and the groggy look in his eyes confirmed all her suspicions. Afterward, while she was sneaking out the back…she should have realized he'd find her before she found him.

"_I know why you don't want to see the baby, Jack_," she said. _I don't do three-ways either_, her mind followed. "_But until you do…until you want to, there's no you and me going for coffee._" (Despite the fact that I drink about 80 cups a day without my sleeping buddy.) "_But um…if at anytime you change your mind, come and see us_."

She hoped he realized that was code for: he's getting his own room.

* * *

><p>Many weeks and months later, Jack and Kate moved in together. The sex was great, sure, but they consistently slept better than Aaron, and how can you argue with that sort of happiness? She could even mostly sleep with the bare <em>memory<em> of him. Having his scent in her bed was the best medicine ever. Do this for the rest of your life? _Yes, yes, of course I will YES._ I'll be sleeping through a third of it anyway!

But then Jack started drinking. It interfered with his sleep patterns. And then they were fighting again.

Night after night she'd toss and turn in the sheets that smelled like him, trying to inhale the kind of slumber she craved.

It wasn't working.

She held out a vain, absolutely vain hope that he would return to her, like he did after her trial. Like he just tended to do. But he didn't. And then he was going back to _the Island?_

Oh hell no.

* * *

><p>Kate was bawling and trying really hard not to, a fistful of Jack's sheets in her hand. God damnit they were making her drowsy, and it made her mad that she'd had to break and enter just to take a nap. She had just woken up and started crying again when Jack came home and found her.<p>

Freshly awake and pissed about it, Kate wanted to make no illusions about what could or couldn't happen from now on. There needed to be no question of a line he could or couldn't cross. She missed getting eight to ten hours a night like _hell_, and there was no way he would take that away from her ever again.

"_Then I'm coming with you_," she vowed, before trying to inhale his face.

Ohhh…the next morning felt good.

* * *

><p>After everything had happened, and the final cards were played, when the dust had settled and families were saved…Kate couldn't sleep. She stopped trying, and the years she spent as Aaron's aunt without Jack in her life was undoubtedly the test she was meant to endure. She managed to live as full a life as she was able, but when the end came, she welcomed it with open arms.<p>

Despite the fact that Jack nearly fell asleep when she invoked the memories of his life in the world beyond, they moved to their final resting place hand in hand.

And when they got there, the first thing they saw was a big, huge bed.

* * *

><p><strong>End note:<strong> It's funny right? Just me? Well. _I _laughed while writing this fic, and that's enough, to make…yourself laugh. lol. Okay, no, but seriously, I even wrote myself proof should I ever need to defend this! 1) There was Diazepam on the Island, Charlie said so. And especially in the first season Jack and Kate mentioned sleeping a lot. Well, anyway. This fic could have gone on forever and ever, and you could manipulate almost everything they ever said or did for this fracktastic idea that _yes_ still makes me laugh if I think about it too hard. It's just so silly. Okay! Enough of that. I do hope you enjoyed this jaunt into the land of cracked-out ideas too goofy to be withheld, and please leave a note if you can. If nothing more than to keep Jate alive :) Thanks for reading!


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